Patent Application
20110202195
The following disclosure relates to energy management, and more particularly to energy management of household consumer appliances, as well as other energy consuming devices and/or systems found in the home. The present disclosure finds particular application to a device which controls operation of consumer appliances, as well as other energy consuming devices and/or systems, and acts as a gateway between a Utility company network and the consumer appliances, as well as other energy consuming devices and/or systems. The controller/gateway device to be discussed below is at times called herein a Home Energy Gateway (HEG).
Currently Utility companies commonly charge a flat rate for energy, but with the increasing cost of fuel prices and high energy usage during certain parts of the day, Utility companies have to buy more energy to supply customers during peak demand. Consequently, Utility companies are beginning to charge higher rates during peak demand. If peak demand can be lowered, then a potential cost savings can be achieved and the peak load that the Utility company has to accommodate is lessened.
One proposed third party solution is to provide a system where a controller “switches” the actual energy supply to the appliance or control unit on and off. However, there is no active control beyond the mere on/off switching. It is believed that others in the industry cease some operations of certain appliances during on-peak time.
Additionally, some electrical Utility companies are moving to an Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) system which needs to communicate with appliances, HVAC, water heaters, etc., in a home or office building. All electrical Utility companies (more than 3,000 in the US) will not be using the same communication method to signal in the AMI system. Similarly, known systems do not communicate directly with the appliance using a variety of communication methods and protocols, nor is a modular and standard method created for communication devices to interface and to communicate operational modes to the main controller of the appliance.
Home energy management (HEM) systems are becoming a key to reducing energy consumption in homes and buildings, in a consumer friendly manner. Existing HEMs are commonly placed in one of two general categories:
Both of the current existing types have significant disadvantages due to higher consumer cost, low flexibility and increased system complexity.
The first category requires a large upfront cost to the consumer, because the cost of providing an integrated display on the HEM very expensive. In addition, the electronics required to drive the display is complex and expensive. Further, from a consumer point of view, they are forced to add one more display screen to their home in addition to the home computer, smart phones, televisions and the displays on pre-existing home devices such as thermostats, appliance displays etc.
The second category of HEM involves a substantial cost to provide the server infrastructure and data transfer. In addition, this type of HEM must be connected continuously with a remote server otherwise energy data logging and energy saving commands for the devices in the home will be lost during service disruptions. In addition, this configuration requires connection to the Internet to access and view data. Therefore this second configuration is very limiting in areas where Internet penetration is very low
To be commercially practical a HEM should result in a payback of less than a year for the consumer through energy savings. Current HEM systems result in payback of about 3-5 years at best. Therefore, since the standard life of an electronic device is about 5 years, the consumer is never paid back for their investment; as they will need to procure a new device before the investment payback period is reached.
Key functions of a HEM include:
For a HEM to achieve its intended function, all energy consuming, energy generating and energy measuring devices must communicate with the HEM through a network. The network of energy consuming devices usually employs a communication design which has very low power and low energy with a high degree of reliability. The data bandwidth required to support a network of energy consuming devices is much smaller than the data bandwidth required for the networking of consumer electronics products, which is usually high bandwidth and high speed. The networking standards, including the physical layer, networking layer and application layers are optimized for the end use.
Consumers want to view and control energy consumption information available thru the HEM, through a variety of consumer electronic devices available in the home. To enable this it is required that energy consumption and control information must be easily transferrable from the networks of energy consuming devices to networks of consumer electronics devices. In addition, consumers are more used to interacting with consumer electronics devices. So the consumer interaction data on a consumer electronics device should be able to flow into the network for energy consuming devices and to enable command and control of the energy consuming devices.
The device disclosed herein is a home energy gateway (HEG) that enables all the key functions of the HEM described above, and enables the flow of data between networks having different physical, link, network, transport and/or application layers, provides a lowest cost product to the consumer with the flexibility to interface with the HEM from any consumer electronics product already available in the home and/or replace any HEM in a home energy management network.
The HEG is a single board computer with a variety of communication interfaces combined with sufficient memory and computing resources to enable energy management of a home or building. This device does not have a dedicated display either on the device or in the system. It transmits the data stored within its memory to other display devices, to enable a consumer interface to the HEG.
In one embodiment, the HEG hardware comprises of a single board computer with the following specification:
The single board computer has three communication interfaces with different physical, networking and application layers.
The HEG it has an Ethernet and Wifi interface with the following specification:
This interface is referred to as the first interface or first network throughout this document.
The HEG of one embodiment also has two Zigbee Interfaces of the following specification:
Other physical implementations are possible given the intent of minimizing the cost and the number of devices in a consumer's home. For example there are a number of devices in a consumer's home that already have power supplies. At a simple level, the HEG database and radios could be connected internally to a PC, Set Top Box, Cable Modem, Tivo, Video Player, or other consumer electronics device.
The base advantage of this to the consumer would be to utilize an existing power supply and enclosure, thus reducing (or not adding to) the number of devices in the home. Such implementation would also reduce the cost of the device.
Additional economies could be taken advantage of by utilizing resources provided by the device. By providing communication over a standard interface, for example PCMIA, USB, etc., the resources of the host could be shared with the device.
For example when attached to WiFi router, neither a WiFi radio nor an Ethernet port need be provided in the HEG, as the HEG could share those services from the host. By hosting in a WiFi router, the HEG can also take advantage of the external antennas, power supply, etc.
When attached to a cable television, TiVo, or video player, the HEG could take advantage of the devices wired connection to a high resolution display screen, for example.
These additional embodiments of the HEG do not change its function as described below or its inherent advantages to the consumer of being low cost, taking advantage of existing displays in the home, and storing data to avoid requiring an external server to access their data.
Two Zigbee communication interfaces are provided so that BEG can talk to two separate energy networks.
Using one Zigbee interface, (referred to as the second interface or second network) the HEG communicates with the smart meter network. This interface reads the smart meter, an energy-metering device, and records the data in the database of the HEG.
The HEG communicates to the devices within the home using the other Zigbee communication interface (referred to as the third interface or third network). Using this interface, the HEG reads the consumption of the individual energy consuming devices and records it in the database.
Utility communications such as price signals, demand response signals and text messages are received through the second interface, recorded in the database, and communicated to the devices in the home through the third interface. The command and control information of the energy consuming devices and their response to Utility signals is received through the third communication interface, recorded in a database, and communicated to the Utility company via the second interface, the communication being routed through the Utility smart meter.
The HEG can also be programmed to vary the response of energy consuming devices to utility communication based on consumer preferences. The consumer may, if desired, program the schedule, mode of operation and create unique device response to utility messages. This programming is communicated through the first interface.
The stored events, energy data, utility messages and consumer setting preferences are accessed also accessed through the first communication interface, which operates at a higher bandwidth and uses a consumer electronics friendly communication protocol. For example, in some embodiments this communication could be over Wifi or Ethernet.
The user interface is an application that resides in one of the consumer electronics products in a home or the home computer. These home devices communicate to the HEG through a predefined communication protocol. The user interface may request specific data from the HEG like historical electricity consumption information and the HEG can push information to devices in the Local Area Network (LAN), like price changes or utility messages, with all communication exchanges occurring thru commands based on this communication protocol. In addition, the energy consuming devices can be controlled or interfaced through the HEG, the user interface communicating with the HEG using this communication protocol over the first interface and the HEG communicating with the energy consuming devices with a low bandwidth protocol using a different physical communication layer.
The term communication protocol refers to three aspects language, transport, and session. The term language is defined as what is used to communicate data or commands such as XML, JSON-RPC, XML-RPC, SOAP, bit stream, or line terminated string. The term transport is defined as the protocol used to deliver the data or commands such as UDP, TCP, HTTP. Session is defined as terms such as, the Device pushing data via a socket based connection, or the Device sending data in response to being polled. Examples of data being pushed are TCP socket streams, and examples of polling are the restful create, read, update, and delete methods.
The HEG plays a key role for the Utility company in registering and communicating with devices within the home. Typical devices that have to work with the smart grid thru the smart meter need to be registered with the smart meter. This means that for every energy consuming device that is installed in a consumer's home, the consumer has to contact the Utility and provide them an install code to register the device, which requires time and resources for both the Utility Company and the consumer. Once the HEG is registered to the smart meter, the HEG then acts as a single point gateway for the Utility Company. In this way all other devices in the home are registered with the HEG and communicate with the HEG. The HEG then summarizes device actions, responses and status and communicates a single message to the Utility Company. This saves resources and infrastructure for the Utility Company's meter system as there is only one device communicating from the home, rather than 10 to 15 devices receiving messages, which would otherwise require a large amount of bandwidth.
With communication protocols in a home converging to common standards, the HEG can also be used to network other devices within the home and store data. For example it could monitor the health of consumers living in a home. A bathroom weighing scale can be enabled with a communication interface, and the weight of a person can be automatically read off the HEG and stored in the data base with a time stamp, every time a person steps on the scale. The device could similarly read other health parameters like blood pressure, glucose, temperature etc.
In the same way, energy and water consumption in a home is an indicator of daily life in a home. It can indicate activity in a home, the number of people in a home, the health of people in a home, safety and intrusion in a home.
The HEG could also operate with home automation and home security systems over open standards. This would coordinate the devices trying to control lighting, pool pumps, and other devices. They could also share information in new ways. The appliances could act as additional occupancy or intruder detection systems. For example, if the home security is in the away mode, and the refrigerator door opens, this could be passed to the security system, just like a motion sensor.
The HEG can also be provided as part of a HEG adaptor module configured to utilize services/components of existing household electronics. Accordingly, a home energy management device for controlling a plurality of energy consuming devices in a home energy management network comprises a host device having hardware for performing at least one service, and a home energy gateway adaptor module connectable to the host device, the home energy gateway adaptor module including at least a home energy usage database for storing data related to usage of energy consuming devices in the home energy management network. The home energy gateway adaptor module is configured to utilize at least one service of the host to carry out at least one function related to controlling the plurality of energy consuming devices.
The home energy gateway adaptor module can further comprise a controller for controlling the plurality of energy consuming devices. The home energy gateway adaptor module can also include a communication interface for communicating with the plurality of energy consuming devices. The communication interface can include a wireless communication interface. The home energy gateway adaptor module can be configured via the host device. The host device can be a wireless network device, wherein the home energy gateway adaptor module is accessible through the host device via a personal computing device. The home energy management device can further comprise a display associated with the host device for displaying information from the home energy gateway adaptor module. The host device can be at least one of a personal computer, a wireless router, a cable television box, a satellite television box, and a television. The home energy gateway adaptor module includes a standard connector for connecting to the host device, which can be at least one connector of the type NIC, PCMIA, PC-Card, USB, Ethernet, RS-232 serial port, 12C, RS-485, and Firewire. The services of the host include at least one of a power supply, a processor, a radio, a display, a user interface and a wired network connection, Zigbee radio, 802.15.4 radio, Wi-Fi radio, program storage memory and combined or separate data storage memory, user interface LEDs, reset button.
A home energy management device for use in a home energy management system including a plurality of energy consuming devices comprises a home energy gateway adaptor module connectable to a host device, the home energy gateway adaptor module including at least a home energy usage database for storing data related to usage of the energy consuming devices, and being configured to utilize at least one service of the host device.
The main source of information flow for the home is shown as smart electric meter 102 acting as trust center, coordinator, and/or and energy service portal (ESP), and which is configured to communicate with a home energy gateway MEG) 104.
It is well known that these functions of smart meter 102 may be separated into different devices. For example, if the home does not have a smart meter 102—so the electric meter functions only as a meter to provide consumption information—other components can be used to provide the additional capabilities. For example, homes without smart meter 102, can have the metering functionality of smart meter 102 replaced with a simple radio and CT configuration. Also, there are devices that can be placed on the outside of the meter to communicate its consumption by reading pulse counts or the rotating disk of the meter. In this embodiment, smart meter 102 is shown with an IEEE 802.15.4 (ZigBee) radio, but the meter could also communicate by a number of other standards such as IEEE (Home Plug Green Phy or Home Plug A V), among others.
A web enabled smart phone 112 is configured to connect to HEG 104 for displaying data and configuring accessories (such as home appliances 114a-114k), except that only a wireless connection is available.
Accessories 114a-114k fall into two categories sensors and devices (where, depending on how they are used, some accessories fall into both categories). Examples of sensors include solar meters 114a, gas meters 114b, temperature sensors 114c, motion sensors 114d, and appliances reporting their power consumption (such as dishwashers 114e, refrigerators 114f, stoves 114g, washers/dryers 114h, etc.). Devices include thermostats 114i, alarms 114j and simple switches 114k, along with the appliances (e.g., dishwashers 114e, etc.), when performing their normal functions. The foregoing are just some examples of accessories to which the concepts of the present application will apply.
The HEG 102 is constructed with computational capabilities and multiple communication technologies. In contrast to existing controllers (such as an HEM) used in home energy systems, the special purpose HEG 102 is significantly smaller, cheaper, and consumes less power. The HEG 102 also has the capability of operating over multiple communication networks, which allows HEG 102 to acquire and manipulate data of one communication network (e.g., that which monitors/controls the home appliances) and to supply that manipulated data to another communication network (e.g., to the consumer electronics network, such as to a home computer, smart phone, web-enabled TV, etc.), even though these networks are not generally compatible. As another example, the MEG 102 is connected to system loads (e.g., the home appliances, etc.) over one type of communication network, to the Utility company over a different communication network, and to a display over a third different communication network.
In one particular embodiment connection to the display is via a WiFi communication network, connection to the Utility Company (over the meter) is via a ZigBee communication network, and connection to the home device/appliance network is over the third. Alternatively, in a home where the devices and Utility Company's rules are different, the data could be structured differently. For example, the whole home consumption could be available over the Internet (as it is in Allentown, Pa. pilot project), or via a ZigBee meter on the second network. Further, in addition to the display, several home automation devices including pool controllers, emergency generators, and storage batteries are designed to be accessed over Ethernet using Internet Protocol (IP).
Turning to
On the right hand side of
Turning now to the setup of the HEG, the consumer will need to configure HEG 102 to monitor energy consumption. Prior to starting to commission the HEG, the consumer will need to load specific Client Application Software (CAS) onto his computer or smartphone. Typically this software would be downloaded over the Internet or purchased from the phone provider. The software may be a general purpose Java application that will run on any PC, or it may be tailored specifically to the physical limitations and operating system of the device, which is common in the cellular phone business. Alternatively a Web CAS could also be used.
Turning now to
As mentioned above, step 508 of
This step is also optional, and is not required for the device to work. No special configuration is required on the HEG. Depending on the security implemented on the consumer's Internet connection, some modification to their router and/or firewall may be required. In some instances the use of the HEG may be advantageous over a “Cloud Computing” model for home energy control, as that the data storage for the HEG is local.
Connection steps for connecting in a typical smart meter environment and for connecting in an Internet environment are now described.
a. The following describes the steps to take for a typical smart meter application.
b. For Internet based energy supplier information.
Typically appliances will be installed on a second network that is entirely maintained by the homeowner. The ZigBee network is used for this purpose in the exemplar, but that is not critical to the invention. Some devices, such as a Thermostat, or PHEV charger may be tied directly to the Utility network in the same manner as the HEG, if for instance, the PHEV qualifies for a different rate or the customer is getting a credit for allowing the Utility to control their HVAC. In this case the consumer can skip directly to step vi.
Just because the consumer does not have to use a cloud-computing device, does not mean that it cannot be done. For example, Google Inc. has a Google Power Meter (GPM) service. On the consumers CAS, they could select connect to GPM, and the data could be ported to the cloud server. Either the consumer or the cloud server may select only to accept a portion of the data. For example, the consumer may select to pass the utility power meter to the cloud server, so he can access it from work, or the cloud server may limit the consumer to two devices with 15 minute increments between points.
Numerous commercial devices are available for measuring and controlling plug loads and larger loads, as well as ZigBee home automation for controlling lights, security and comfort. One such example is the ZBLC30—Dual (30/15A) Relay with energy meter. This ZigBee 110/220V Dual-relay (30/15A) describes itself as a controller with energy meter which remotely controls high current heavy loads such as water heaters, pool pumps, pool heaters, electric vehicle charges, air conditioners, etc. Using the wireless ZigBee protocol allows the switch to constantly measure the power delivered to the load and report various parameters such as real and apparent power based on high accuracy industry standards. This makes possible the intelligent management of large appliances. Provided with both normally open (NO) and normally closed (NC) contacts for maximum flexibility including fail-safe configurations.
There are numerous devices available to consumers which have Ethernet or WiFi capabilities. For example a Pentair pool controller from Pentair Water Pool and Spa, or an alarm system controller from Smart Home, are just two examples.
By use of a special purpose application program “APP” these and other such devices can communicate with the consumer's energy management system so that they can make adjustments to all of the systems in one place and set their own priorities. These apps are loaded by the same update program which manages the HEG software.
Turning now to the operation of the HEG, set out below are examples of various data flows which can be obtained by use of the HEG.
1. Power Consumption Data from Meter to Database.
Once the consumer has the HEG connected to meters and devices and collecting data they can start to take advantage of its capabilities. A particular benefit of this system, which uses the HEG without a dedicated or integrated display, is the ability to use a high quality display to view data and interact with appliances without having to pay for it separately. Many consumers already have large displays of 17″, 35″, even 52″ diagonals that they use for entertainment systems. Many of these devices already are provided with Web CASs. Accessing the electricity consumption of a home on a TV screen will provide a more readable display of their consumption habits to the consumer than the small monochrome in-home displays that Utilities have been using in pilots. In addition being able to look at the change in energy consumption when you turn on a range or dryer, the present design provides consumers with an increased awareness of where there energy dollar is going. Because the consumer displays (e.g. TVs, computers, smart phones) are adapted to graphical display, they are well suited to display this type of information.
This improved interface also allows the consumer to fine tune their response for different appliances with more detail than was possible over a typical appliance control screen. This customization can be done either in conjunction with energy prices, weather information, time of day, occupancy or other external parameter, or just as a user defined rule without any outside parameters.
A first example: A dishwasher cycle is delayed because of high energy costs. However the water heater is not heating either. The HEG provides the consumer with the option of waiting until the water heater has caught up before starting the dishwasher.
Another dishwasher option: The consumer can determine to not allow (or always require) heated dry, extra pre-washes, or extra heat on a dishwasher at any time, despite what is selected at the controls of the dishwasher. This feature may be valuable for people whose children are assisting with meal clean up.
A second example: The consumer starts their dryer in a delay start mode, but before the delay time is completed energy price goes up. The consumer will be asked if they still want the dryer to start when scheduled.
An additional dryer example is to limit the maximum heat regardless of the energy level selected. This balance of saving energy at the expense of drying time could be made at any time, or could be done to prevent children or spouse from damaging garments by drying at too high a temperature.
An example of using weather is to prohibit dryer operation when the external temperature was above 80 degrees to avoid competing with the air conditioning, or to prohibit dryer use if the sun was shining and line-dry clothes instead.
A third example: The consumer can automate the decision for which of various modes he would like his water heater to operate in. Depending on the water heater, the modes that can be selected from include: Electric Resistive Heaters Cal Rod, Electric Heat Pump, Gas, Solar, and Off. He can use electric price, weather, gas price and home occupancy to select from.
A washing machine example. The consumer could use this feature to control which temperatures can be selected, or prohibit using the washer at certain electric costs.
The improved user interface is also an advantage when programming devices. Programmable thermostats are often hard to program via their limited user interfaces. For example, you have to push the menu button twice, then the left button, then the down button to set the hour, then the left button, until a full schedule of 7 days with 4-6 events per day have been loaded. The user interface on the HEG with a computer or smartphone can display it graphically. Because the consumer is familiar with the interface, the commands are more intuitive. They can drag and drop changes of times, and copy and paste of one days schedule to a different day. Once they are happy with the schedule, they can save the whole schedule and then send it to the HEG over a high data rate Ethernet/WiFi connection. The HEG will save the schedule internally. A customer can build a number of schedules. Winter (Heating), Summer (Cooling), Summer Vacation (Home empty, cool just slightly, circulate outside air at night); Summer Kids Home (Cool During the day) etc. After the customer selects one to load, the HEG loads the schedule to the thermostat. Thereafter the customer can change schedules and return to the original schedule without needing to reenter information.
Turning now to
The row Bytes is the size of the field. The Data Type and Field Name describe the type of data in each field. The schedule consists of a series of Transition times, high set points, and low set points. Each set point is scheduled to be in effect until the next transition. The variable field can contain multiple transitions until a final (nth) transition for a given day. At midnight the schedule will continue the prior days last transition until the first transition of the new day. The Day of Week field identifies the day that is being scheduled. Where Day 0 is Sunday, Day 1 is Monday, Day 2 is Tuesday etc. Alternatively a bitmap field could be used to set the same schedule into multiple days simultaneously. The variable field can contain repeated Transitions.
The example of a thermostat programming is not limited to a thermostat, but could be included with anything that normally runs on a schedule. A different example could be a pool pump and spa controller, where high set point is spa temp and low set point is the pool temp.
Another application is setting pool pump run times, where the high and low set points can be set at 0 and 100 to control off and on. A variable speed controller could use 1-99 to indicate a percentage of full run.
This on off scheduling could also be used with a water heater controller so it would not maintain water temperature when the homeowner is scheduled to be at work.
The HEG relies on a number of different software sets. There is software on the HEG itself. There is a second piece of software on the desktop or laptop computer used to configure the HEG and gather data from it. There is a third piece of software on the smart phone. The phone and computer may be further defined by the operating system, or may take advantage of a platform like Java that allows the programs to operate on multiple operating systems. Each of these can be upgraded independently of each other. The desktop (or laptop) and smart phone Apps also have a service for the HEG. They can ping a server (e.g., if from General Electric, a GE server) every day checking for the latest software release. As new software becomes available, either to correct issues or add features, they can down load the newest HEG software and the push it down to the HEG. This way the software sets can be upgraded independently of each other.
Once the HEG knows which appliances are on the network, it can also check the server for updates for those devices, and download that software if needed.
In addition, the present system allows for provisioning (i.e., preparing the system to accept new services) whereby special purpose software can be downloaded. When the customer buys a new washer, and enters its model. The software can contact the GE server, and be given an app to download. This app allows the consumer to set more detailed control of the appliance. It would know for instance this particular washer has five wash temperatures. It would then provide the customer with the opportunity to customize their wash experience. For example the customer could set the washer to not ever allow sanitation cycles and only allow hot wash when electric prices are at or below a threshold price (e.g., <$0.15 a kWhr). Alternatively the customer may decide that since they are on a gas water heater, the HEG should not control water temp when electric price changes. Another function that the washer could have is a delayed start feature. If the washer is in the delayed start, the customer could (through the HEG) either tell the washer to start now, or to delay its start even longer.
An example of passive operation of the HEG is the monitoring of a dryer. The HEG can notice that the dryer says it is in high heat, but never goes over 3 kW. If this occurs on a single occasion this may be a loading or airflow condition, but if it happens repeatedly, it may be a failed open heater. In a more active role, the HEG could ping a dishwasher, and ask it for all of its error codes. The HEG can then send that information to the dishwasher manufacturer, either automatically or upon the customer's request, or make it available to the customer on a display when they call for service, thereby assisting the manufacturer in troubleshooting the unit. Alternatively, the customer could download more detailed analytical software if they were having issues with a specific appliance that could run diagnostics on the appliance and sends the results back to the manufacturer so the technician could arrive with the correct part.
In addition to monitoring for service, the monitoring software can also keep the consumer up to date on the status of their home. For example the time remaining on an oven self-clean, the end of cycle on a dishwasher, or the current hot water tank temperatures could be communicated to the HEG by appliances over a the low bandwidth third network. This info can then be sent to the consumer via the first interface to a WiFi enabled smart phone or Web enabled television, or possibly a Bluetooth device. It could also be sent to him outside of the hoe by email, SMS text message or similar method.
Another option during provisioning is to download a software set that customizes the display so that it essentially duplicates the features of the appliance, but uses large font and improved colors for people with poor visual acuity. People with vision impairment could use a 17″ screen with black numbers on a yellow background to set the temperatures on the refrigerator or schedule the self clean on an oven.
Other special purpose software may be offered in conjunction with a Utility company. The customer may have a special code from their Utility company which downloads a software set that tracks air conditioner thermostat setpoints and passes that information back to a Utility company server. The customer then gets a bonus for maintaining certain target temps, and by not overriding setpoint changes during grid emergencies.
Another set of specialty software is for commercially available devices. If the customer buys a device from a third party, they can log on and download the software that blends that device into their network. It may be lighting controls, the pool controller mentioned earlier, or a third party thermostat.
Turning now to
The HEG module 704 in the illustrated example is connected to the port 722 of the host device 708. This port could be, for example, a USB port of a home computer or cable box, or an Ethernet port of a wireless router. In this regard, the HEG adaptor module 708 can be essentially a USB storage device such as a “jump drive,” or the like. Such HEG adaptor module 704 includes a home energy usage database 730 for storing information related to the home energy network and/or algorithms for controlling one or more device within the network. A communication interface 734 can also be provided for communicating with one or more energy consuming devices in the network. As will be appreciated, a wide variety of hardware and/or services can be provided on the HEG adaptor module as well.
With reference to
The HEG adaptor module 806 generally includes memory for storing a home energy usage database, and a communication interface for communicating with one or more energy consuming devices. The HEG adaptor module 806 is configured to utilize one or more services of the wireless router 802 including, for example, a power supply, an interne connection, the wireless network, etc.
As will be appreciated, once the HEG adaptor module 806 is connected to the wireless router 802, various features of the HEG can be accessed from another device on the wireless network. such as a personal computer 816 as shown, or a mobile phone having Wifi, a cable box, etc. The personal computer 816 in the illustrated embodiment includes a CPU 818 connected to the wireless router, a display 820 and a keyboard 824. The personal computer 816 can be configured to access the HEG adaptor module 806 through the wireless router 802 and display a user interface on its display 820. In this manner, a user can view information stored on the HEG adaptor module 806 and/or configure various aspects of the HEG adaptor module relating to the control of energy consuming devices in the HEM network, in accordance with the manner described above. In this regard, the router 802 and personal computer 816 together can be considered the host device, since services of each are utilized by the HEG adaptor module 806.
Turning now to
Turning to
In
As will be appreciated, the HEG adaptor modules as described above utilize services/components of existing home electronics and, thus, such components/services need not be provided with the HEG adaptor module. For example, the HEG adaptor module obviates the need for a dedicated a display, input device, power supply, etc. This results in a device that is much less expensive to produce and therefore reduces the cost to a consumer of adding a HEM network to the home.
This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 61/304,712, filed on, Feb. 15, 2010, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 61304712 | Feb 2010 | US |
